Meet Our Tribal Leadership

F R A N C H I S E O P P O R T U N I T I E S

Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T.

Chief Executive Officer

Sharon is founder and creator of the Challenge Island™ program, She is an award-winning elementary school teacher with two decades of experience in Atlanta public and private schools. She started Challenge Island in her second grade classroom and began running it as an enrichment business using the current model in 2003. It has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since.

Sharon is a nationally recognized parenting and education expert and a freelance writer for numerous national publications including Scholastic Parent and Child, Parents, Woman’s Day and Good Housekeeping magazines. She is the author of the popular parenting book, Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? (Random House) and co-author of the upcoming Challenge Island book series that turns the Challenge Island curriculum into an exciting and educational story. She is sought-after speaker who has presented to scores of communities nationwide about the trials and tribulations of raising kids in the digital age.
Sharon received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Emory University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude.

She continues to run her local Challenge Island business in Atlanta, Georgia where she lives with her husband and four children.

Robin Bergeron

Chief Learning Officer

Robin is a veteran educator with 22 years of teaching experience. She is also the co-owner/operator of a Challenge Island Franchise in Houma, LA. Her creativity, enthusiasm, and great successes with her own Challenge Island franchise make her the perfect fit for Challenge Island’s CLO role.

Robin is a certified 1st-8th grade teacher with experience teaching inclusion classes and gifted, dyslexic, special needs, and at-risk students. She has special training in multi-sensory, cooperative learning, positive behavior strategy, team building, and whole language instruction. She is a 3 time Teacher of the Year Nominee and an Inspirational Teacher Nominee. Robin lives in Houma, LA with her husband and family.

Julie K. Weinstein

Artistic Curriculum Director

Julie graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia, with a concentration in Drawing and Painting. Once finished with her Art Education program requirements she became certified to teach art in K-12 classrooms. After several years of teaching Art at The Davis Academy in Atlanta, as well as working in several other schools, she joined the staff at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. As Manager of Youth and Family Programs she was responsible for creating and implementing Camps, Workshops and Family Fun Days that centered around the museum’s fascinating collection of Antiquities and West African Art.

Julie lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and two children.

Leslie Thibodaux

Operational Support Director

Leslie received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education 1st-8th grade and her Master of Education, Reading Specialist, and Academically Gifted Certification from Nicholls State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She is a veteran educator with 20 years of teaching experience, 17 of which she taught mathematics to academically gifted children.

Leslie incorporates strong analytical problem-solving skills, her love for mathematics, and organizational skills into operating her own successful Challenge Island franchise in Louisiana, where she serves as co-owner. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and three children.

Learn more about the Challenge Island Program!

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NAVIGATION

ABOUT CHALLENGE ISLAND

Challenge Island is a red hot and fast growing international educational enrichment franchise on the forefront of S.T.E.A.M. Education and 21st Century Learning. Founded by award-winning educator, author, and freelance parenting/education journalist Sharon Duke Estroff, the program takes children on exciting imaginative journeys to an array of thematic islands. Each island is made up of numerous whimsical “destinations” where children work in collaborative tribes on action-packed challenges using only the materials in their treasure chests and their creativity From chemistry to art, engineering to music, and geometry to mythology, the “island” format allows for enormous flexibility in offering cross curricular material while developing communication, collaboration, and flexible thinking skills for elementary school age kids.

Wrapped in whimsical trimmings (headbands, facepaint, and the beat of the tribal drum), the Challenge Island program features an unmistakable spirit and flair. A sense of anticipation fills the air as kids enter new worlds of adventure and imagination through Challenge Island afterschool classes, in-school field trips, camps, birthday parties, family fun nights and much more.